Tales From the Infirmary
by FeeBe
Summary: Neville bribes Harry into seeing Madame Pomfrey. They start talk about their adventures. Sequel to For the Want of Coffee Trick or Treat Challenge- Malfoys 5. Dialogue.


Neville finally allowed Harry to have the coffee cup when they arrived in the hospital wing and he was seated on a bed, awaiting Madame Pomfrey, who was just finalising the transfer of patients to St Mungos.

"Oooh! So good," the brunette sighed.

Harry leaned against the head board savouring the warm drink.

"So what have you been up to?" he asked.

Neville looked at him bemusedly and gave a lopsided smile. "Not a lot. And you?"

Harry shrugged, "Not much. Seriously Neville, we've been out of touch for so long. I watched the map and wondered if everyone was alright. Not being able to do anything…."

"Hey," Neville slid onto the bed next to Harry, and threw an arm around his shoulder. "It wasn't pleasant. But we looked out for each other."

"You'd been living in the Room of Requirement, Nev!" Harry choked out. "The things they must have done to cause you to …. To our school, in my home!"

"Now Mr Potter, what have you been up to?" Madame Pomfrey bustled over all business.

"Not much, I'm just a bit tired!" Harry shrugged.

"Pain?"

"A bit," she looked at him in surprise.

"Don't let him fool you," Neville interject as Madame Pomfrey raised her wand in preparation to scan Harry. "Apparently he actually died."

Madame Pomfrey paused, then took a deep breath. "Mr Potter…..Harry," her voice cracked. "You need to tell me what happened."

"The whole story Harry," Neville insisted.

Harry shrugged, "Riddle cast Avada Kedavra at me and it hit, so I died. I woke up in a place in between and was offered the chance to come back so I did."

"Harry," Neville frowned. "He hit you with an Avada? There is more to it than that, Poppy needs to know."

Harry turned to him with pleading eyes., but Neville stayed firm.

"Anyone could hear!"

"Madame Pomfrey raised her and erected a clear barrier around them, "There, now no-body ese can hear."

"Riddle, he created Horcruxes." It was clear from their expressions that neither Neville nor Madame Pomfrey understood the term, so he attempted to explain. "There are some acts that are so horrible that they can be used as part of a ritual to severe off a piece of a person's soul and bind it into a container. These objects containing the soul piece are called Horcruxes, while these pieces of their soul exist the person cannot be truly killed. They are essentially immortal. That is what we have been doing these last few months, hunting for and trying to find a way to destroy Riddle's horcruxes."

"What has that to do with him killing you Harry," Neville asked fearfully.

Harry fiddled with the corner of the sheet and refused to lift his eyes from the bed as he continued speaking. "Riddle he….well, most people only make one, but Riddle had made four before he went to my parent's house that Halloween. We think it made his soul unstable or perhaps he was going to use their deaths to create another, but that night he made a horcrux that he didn't intend."

"No!" Poppy gasped, a hand covering her mouth. Neville squeezed Harry tight. Harry reached over and placed the mug on the table beside the bed.

"How do you destroy are Horcrux Harry?" Neville asked unsteadily.

"You have to render it so damaged that it is irreparable. We found stabbing it with a Basilisk fang or a Goblin Blade coated in Basilisk venom worked well." Neville looked like he was about to be sick.

"What did you do!" Madame Pomfrey demanded.

"Dumbledore had left instructions, I had to go and let him kill me, otherwise he would never have been able to be destroyed." Harry's hands twisted the fabric of the sheet tightly. "Really I'm ok."

"Lie down. Don't speak," Madame Pomfrey bit out. Harry quickly wiggled down so that his head was appropriately placed on the pillow. "You off!" she waved her wand at Neville in a decidedly threatening manner as he slid off the bed and out of her way.

Her wand weaved complicated patterns in the air over Harry's body, as she muttered spells under her breath. At some point Neville pulled up a chair and sat down to wait.

An hour of furious spell casting later she had finally finished, lowering her wand and wiping perspiration from her brow with her spare hand. "You stay there, don't even think about moving!" She made her way to the cabinet holding her stock of potions and nearly stumbled over Molly Weasley who, along with what was left of her brood and Hermione, had entered the Hospital wing while she had been working.

"Poppy if you could just drop the wards around Harry, we're here to see him."

"I can't do that Molly," Poppy denied.

"But surely, you can hold off giving him his potions until after we have visited."

Poppy drew herself up to her full height, "Molly Weasley, I said no! Harry is acutely unwell, and I must treat him immediately, no one else will be visiting with him until I am done."

"What's Neville doing in here the?" Ginny asked with a pout. "Surely I can be in there if Neville can."

"Neville is here helping at my request, Miss Weasley."

"But I could….." Ginny began to argue.

"Can you lift the boy off the bed for me? Or hold him still when his whole body begins to spasm! No? And that is why it is Neville. Now I don't have any more time to waste on you. Off you go." She dismissed them, without another glance and re-entered the bubble.

"Right Mr Potter, open wide," she held out a via.

Harry grimaced, "What does Mrs Weasley want?" he asked.

"Don't think I don't know what you are doing Harry," Madame Pomfrey said. "They said they wanted to talk to you, but I have told them you are too unwell for the time being."

"Argh," Harry groaned, before hastily lifting his head and gulping down the potion in response to a very pointed glance from Madame Pomfrey.

"Don't you want to talk to them Harry?" Neville asked.

Harry took the next vial from Madame Pomfrey and downed it quickly. "No, I said somethings earlier in the Great Hall and I don't think they liked them very much, especially Ginny."

"What did you say?" Neville asked a smile flickering at his lips.

Harry groaned and closed his eyes, "You remember how we went out in sixth year for a bit?" When Neville nodded he continued. "Well she was under the assumption that we would just start again now the war is over." Neville now wore a frown. "But I don't want that. I really need to sort out a few things before I start anything with anyone. I've changed so much this last 8 months, I don't even know how to begin processing what happened in the forbidden forest let alone the rest of the time."

Neville nodded for a moment before freezing, "The rest of the time?"

"We'll come back to that," Madame Pomfrey stated handing over the next vial, "He's going to be here quite a bit longer."

"No!" Harry protest, "I have to go back to Grimmauld place so I can help Andromeda with Teddy!"

"You need to be well first Harry, before you can help anyone with anything!" the mediwitch stated firmly.

"So, what are these for anyway?" Harry asked after swallowing the next potion, he thought his taste buds might be becoming numb, as that one didn't taste quite as bad as the one before.

Madame Pomfrey began ticking them off on his chart, "Magically exhaustion, one to help with dehydration, you may not have noticed but you have several cracked bones,"

"Possibly from when he threw me in the air," Harry was unsurprised.

"Hmpf, well, there were some older breaks as well, but your magic has mostly healed those. However, there is some evidence of malnutrition that has been ongoing for some time. I need you to be honest with me Harry. Dumbledore implied you are a fussy eater, but I never saw any evidence of it here. Do you feel ill after you eat?"

"What are you asking Madame Pomfrey," Harry asked in a small voice.

"I'm worried that you have an eating disorder Harry," she replied.

Harry laughed, Neville and Poppy looked on in confusion.

"It's not something to laugh at young man. Not eating correctly can severely damage your magical core while it's developing."

Finally, Harry settled, "Madam Pomfrey, I'm not fussy, nor do I have an eating disorder. My relatives just didn't think I was worth feeding, and the late Headmaster knew."

"What!" Neville gasped.

"He knew, he sent me to a house where I wouldn't be fed, and he knew. He knew how they treated me. He knew about the cupboard, the lack of food, the beltings and the derogatory comments. He. Knew!" Harry swiped at his eyes. "He knew that they never had one ounce of love for me."

In a moment Neville had climbed back onto the bed and taken Harry into his arms, "You have escaped from them and you never have to go back! I won't let them hurt you ever again," he swore.

"And now that I know I can do something about it. I didn't detect any damage to your core, so you have been very lucky, but I will do another scan when you have recovered from your magical exhaustion." She handed him another vial. "Lastly, we have a dreamless sleep, you need to wait half an hour until you can have it so it doesn't react adversely with the potions I have already given you. Neville, I want you to stay and keep an eye on him, make sure he takes that potion, he needs a solid eight hours sleep for everything I have given him to start working. I will leave the privacy ward in place." Neville nodded in response and they watched her head back into her office.

Neville rolled on his side to face Harry. "I want you to tell me what you happened in your search for the horcruxes."

"But Neville, I'm ok really," Harry tried as he turned to face the taller boy.

"Harry I worried about you all year. Seamus has been worried about Dean…"

"We saw him!"

"What we saw him, not long ago. We were camping out in the forest of Dean and we got taken by the snatchers and taken to Malfoy manor. Luna and Dean were there, we escaped but I think…"

"Luna and Dean got sent back to school and moved straight into the Room of Requirement," Neville reassured. "I know, that was the first proper news we had of you in months, apart from the eleged siting of you at Gringotts."

Harry snorted, "We had a plan."

"You were actually there?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded. "One of the horcruxes was in the Bank. So we came up with a plan with a goblin we had rescued when we escaped Malfoy Manor. We had it all under control."

"Harry we heard that the bank was searching for the criminals who broke into their bank! They said that half the roof had been ripped off!"

Harry shrugged.

"What! I thought you said that you had it all under control."

"Yeah well that was before the Dragon escaped."

"The dragon escaped," Neville paused as he rolled the thought around his mind for a moment. "The dragon didn't actually escape did it? You set it free!"

"Well we had to get out of there somehow," it really did sound ridiculous now that they were talking about it. "We kind of rode it out of there and released it into the wild. We should probably tell Charlie Weasley about it because the poor thing was probably a bit blind after having spent so long in the dark, and it wouldn't do to have it flying around where it could be seen by the muggles."

"Rode it out of there," Neville muttered, and then reached out a hand to slap Harry gently on the shoulder. "Harry Potter you'll be the death of me!"

Harry began to giggle a little hysterically, "Andy said that I'll have to sort it out with the Goblins, they won't be best pleased. I might lose all my inheritance, or they could ban me from the bank. Do you think they will throw me in prison Nev. I don't want to go to Azkaban." Harry's breathing increased at a rapid rate.

"Shh, Harry," Neville grabbed Harry's hand and began to rub gentle circles on it. "Shhh, we'll take care of it. Andromeda and I will come with you. Once we explain why you were there we'll work something out." He looked at Harry's flushed face noting his shallow breaths and shaky limbs. "I think we've covered enough tonight."

Neville slid from the bed and grabbed the top layers of linens. "Come on in you get."

Between the two of them Harry ended up under the blankets and tucked in, in short order. Neville handed Harry the last vial, which he drank without fuss.

"Now, I know you aren't ready to talk about a lot of things Harry. They'll wait till you're ready, but I'm here ready to listen whenever you're ready. Okay?" Neville was holding Harry's hand again, and the gentle circles were adding to his drowsiness.

"Nev," Harry slurred. "I'm glad you're here with me."

Neville ran his spare hand through Harry's hair, "Me too Harry. Me too."

Suddenly Madame Pomfrey was on him. "Up on the bed," she tapped the one adjacent to Harry's and gave him shark like grin. "Your turn!"


End file.
